Finally, it was time to put
Boromir, Captain of the White Tower on the board. Alongside Boromir, I'd be putting an
Avenger Bolt Thrower down- two brand new elements of the Minas Tirith army I've been excited to try! We rolled up three scenarios: I veto'd Hold Ground and Andrew veto'd Contest of champions which had us settling on Domination. Finally, I also recently finished a new terrain piece so opted to play on a heavy Osgiliath-themed board.
The Minas Tirith list. 10 Might and 34 models feels pretty good, although I am missing Ingold and Madril from my previous outings. Plenty of natural Fight 4 which I can bump to Fight 5.
I quite like Andrew's Rivendell list. 31 models at 650- a little light on Might but Erestor and Elrond make up for it in ability.
Initial board deployment. I was trying to stay hidden from his archers ahead of getting my bolt thrower in position. Having to deploy within 6" of a board edge is weird!
Baby's first siege engine!
Minas Tirith deployment. I am holding my cavalry in reserve so I can react to whichever flank gets pushed harder.
Rivendell deployment. Divided in half to get around the large central ruin.
Andrew begins pressing around the building. Erestor's force pushes up on the right and the boys of Minas Tirith make an opening for the Bolt Thrower.
In its first ever use, I roll a 6 for number of shots, and then proceed to down 3 elves. I burn a point of might to kill one, which feels okay since I assume we're gonna be really tied up soon.
And tied up we are! Erestor's warband pushes into the gap to keep me from pressing forward to the objective. Duels initially go Andrew's way, but his luck is not long for the world.
Meanwhile, I string Elrond's warband along and keep falling back into the protection of Boromir's banner while I commit extra forces to Erestor's warband. I reposition the Bolt Thrower for more shots; it only manages one more kill over the rest of the game, but continues to be a huge threat.
Soon we start gaining the upper hand on duels. Andrew rolls snake-eyes for duel rolls more than once. My Fight 5 also starts making a big difference as I win more than my share of roll-offs, even when elven blades are involved!
Elrond's Warband gets into position to strike. Erestor's warband has been mostly dealt with as Rivendell approaches their broken point.
Erestor's beleaguered warband holds as long as they can.
Elrond and his warband push in. Elrond successfully casts Wrath of the Bruinen knocking down my lads; though tons of spear support comes in to assist.
Rivendell, now broken, starts moving towards objectives as Warriors of Minas Tirith likewise scatter to the points. Elrond and Boromir square off; Elrond strikes and wins the duel. Then proceeds to fail to wound Boromir's horse on 3 dice and a re-roll... Sorry Andrew :(
As Andrew's list is quartered, the only warrior to fail a courage check is the warrior contesting a far objective. His backup warrior is heartbreakingly out of range.
Minas Tirith firmly hold one objective.
The central objective where both Boromir and Elrond are dueling is held by Minas Tirith by only one model.
In the end, Minas Tirith scores 2 VPs for one uncontested objective, 1 VP for a contested objective, and 1 VP for breaking Rivendell. The final bloody affair is a 4-0 for Minas Tirith.
Closing Thoughts: Honestly, Andrew's dice were AWFUL. My firts two turns had some rough duel rolls and then I couldn't stop rolling 6s after that... exactly like my last game with Chris. I do think my overall strategy worked- pulling back under Boromir's banner while focusing on one warband at a time, but some better duel luck on Andrew could've seen this one become a real nail biter.
The Bolt Thrower was pretty great. It killed 4 models; which is less than its points... but that is a pretty elementary way of thinking of a model's value. The bolt thrower absolutely dictated many of Andrew's movement decisions and that is impossible to quantify.
Boromir, Captain of the White Tower is pretty pretty prettttaaayyyy good. I only ever fought with him twice- once killing an elf warrior and once against Elrond but clearly his value is HUGE. Love him.
Great game and I am glad to hear Boromir was worth his points!
ReplyDeleteLooks like some of those buildings are 3D Prints. I use TPGEO Printing Goes Ever On), Conquest Creations and Frostguard by Livingston. Got any other suggested lines?
Those are all the same ones I use as well! They've kept me plenty supplied :)
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